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Catholic Buddhist Insists on Common Ground

In “recent decades, scholars of Buddhism have been reluctant even to render that noun in the singular, speaking instead of “Buddhisms” in an effort to reflect the wide range of doctrine and practice across time and space. Thus no scholar of Buddhism would dare attempt to identify some essence or even defining characteristic of Buddhism, instead offering, when asked, a rather dry historical narrative: “Buddhism is a religious tradition that began in India around the fifth century B.C.E., founded by a figure known as the Buddha...” “No one, in other words, would dare to venture “what counts as genuine Buddhism”. “But it may be that modern Buddhism has existed long enough to require its own periodization, in which each period of modern Buddhism has its own favored “science.” (pg.891-2, Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan) “There are many philosophies and interpretations within Buddhism, making it a tolerant and evolving religion.” Also making it prone to competing truth claims about itself. Scholars (the newer ones) consider it, a “way of life” or a “spiritual tradition” more than a religion (after it fell apart under scrutiny- pg.887-8). https://backend.production.deepblue-d... It “is impossible to know exactly what the Buddha taught. He did not write down his teachings, nor did his early disciples. The only written versions were recorded several hundred years after his death, following centuries of being passed on orally- and of being interpreted in multiple ways.” (pg.130, 4th Edit. Experiencing the World's Religions, Michael Molloy) https://answersingenesis.org/world-re... • There Are Contradictions in Buddhism - Ve... • The Scientific Buddha: Past, Present, Futu... (26:44 start) Also noteworthy is “The current Dalai Lama has said that the entire traditional cosmology (which he ascribes to the fourth-century scholar Vasubandhu rather than to the Buddha himself ) is simply wrong and may safely be abandoned by Buddhists.” (pg.887 here: https://backend.production.deepblue-documents.lib.umich.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/3e9d2215-f890-4fac-bbf6-231ee9cc2b1e/content) “It is only in the twentieth century—and especially after Tibet came under Chinese control and the Dalai Lama went into exile in 1959—that the discourse of Buddhism and science emerged in Tibetan Buddhism.” (pg.888) Buddhism has been transformed (everything changes including Buddhism) by Western science since the 1870’s according to Donald Lopez. He lists other scientific failures Buddhists jettisoned (pg.885, 887), making the bold assertion: “For many professional scholars of Buddhism, who know Buddhist doctrine and history well, the idea that Buddhism and science (whatever one means by those terms) are compatible is so preposterous as to be unworthy of sustained analysis...” (pg.885) Why All the Distinctions? https://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat... https://www.learnreligions.com/brief-...

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The Engrafted Word at the Farmers Market